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. 2025 Aug 17;12(2):e001550.
doi: 10.1136/lupus-2025-001550.

Anti-ribosomal-P protein antibodies and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE): in a cross-sectional study of Danish adult patients with SLE, no significant association is found between anti-ribosomal-P and neuropsychiatric SLE

Sabine Lerke Kamstrup  1   2 , Nanna Surlemont Schmidt  3   4 , Henrik Zachar Langkilde  2   5 , Anna Christine Nilsson  5   6 , Anne Voss  2   5
Affiliations

Anti-ribosomal-P protein antibodies and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE): in a cross-sectional study of Danish adult patients with SLE, no significant association is found between anti-ribosomal-P and neuropsychiatric SLE

Sabine Lerke Kamstrup et al. Lupus Sci Med. .

Abstract

Objective: The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of anti-ribosomal-P protein antibodies (anti-Rib-P) in a well-characterised Danish adult SLE cohort. Secondary objectives included (1) assessing any association between anti-Rib-P and neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE), (2) assessing any association between anti-Rib-P and characteristics of Danish patients with SLE and (3) assessing potential associations between selected autoantibodies and NPSLE.

Method: This cross-sectional study included 198 Danish patients with SLE from a population-based cohort. Patients meet the American College of Rheumatology's 1997 revised classification criteria for SLE and were 18 years of age or older. Anti-Rib-P were detected in serum using fluorescence enzyme immunoassay. ANA patterns were tested using indirect immunofluorescence on HEp-2 cells. Anti-double-stranded DNA antibody was examined by manual ELISA, and antibodies targeting Ro/SSA, La/SSB, Sm, RNP, Scl-70, Jo-1, Centromer B and Histone were examined on a Luminex instrument.

Results: We identified 14 (7.1%) patients with anti-Rib-P positive SLE, and 3 anti-Rib-P positive patients were diagnosed with NPSLE (21% of patients with NPSLE). There was no statistically significant association between anti-Rib-P and NPSLE. The mean anti-Rib-P titres in the patients with NPSLE did not differ significantly from patients without NPSLE patients' titres. We observed a significant association between anti-Rib-P positivity and disease activity measured by the SLEDAI-2K (SLE Disease Activity Index 2000) score. A stepwise logistic regression found an association between NPSLE and SLEDAI-2K and SLICC DI (SLE International Collaborating Clinics Damage Index) score.

Conclusion: This study could not confirm a role for anti-Rib-P in the identification of NPSLE. On the other hand, anti-Rib-P was associated with SLE disease activity as well as organ damage.

Keywords: Antibodies; Autoantibodies; Autoimmune Diseases; Autoimmunity; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Anti-Rib-P titre in U/mL of 14 patients with SLE subdivided according to NPSLE status. Anti-Rib-P, anti-ribosomal protein P antibody; NPSLE, neuropsychiatric SLE.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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